Archaeological evidence and mythical tale for Rome's origins
Capitoline Wolf, sculpture of the she-wolf feeding the twins Romulus and Remus, the most famous image associated with the founding of Rome. According to Livy, it was erected in 296 BC.[1]Romulus and Remus on the House of the She-wolf at the Grand Place of Brussels
The founding of Rome was a prehistoric event or process later greatly embellished by Roman historians and poets. Archaeological evidence indicates that Rome developed from the gradual union of several hilltop villages during the Final Bronze Age or early Iron Age. Prehistoric habitation of the Italian Peninsula occurred by 48,000 years ago, with the area of Rome being settled by around 1600 BC.[2] Some evidence on the Capitoline Hill possibly dates as early as c. 1700 BC[3] and the nearby valley that later housed the Roman Forum had a developed necropolis by at least 1000BC.[4] The combination of the hilltop settlements into a single polity by the later 8th centuryBC was probably influenced by the trend for city-state formation emerging from ancient Greece.
Roman myth held that their city was founded by Romulus, son of the war god Mars and the Vestal virgin Rhea Silvia, fallen princess of Alba Longa and descendant of Aeneas of Troy. Exposed on the Tiber river, Romulus and his twin Remus were suckled by a she-wolf at the Lupercal before being raised by the shepherd Faustulus, taking revenge on their usurping great-uncle Amulius, and restoring Alba Longa to their grandfather Numitor. The brothers then decided to establish a new town but quarrelled over some details, ending with Remus's murder and the establishment of Rome on the Palatine Hill.
Most modern historians doubt the existence of a single founder or founding event for the city, and no material evidence has been found connecting early Rome to Alba or Troy. Most modern historians also dismiss the putative Aeneid dynasty at Alba Longa as fiction. The legendary account was still much discussed and celebrated in Roman times. The Parilia Festival on 21 April was considered to commemorate the anniversary of the city's founding during the late Republic and that aspect of the holiday grew in importance under the Empire until it was fully transformed into the Romaea in AD121. The year of the supposed founding was variously computed by ancient historians, but the two dates seeming to be officially sanctioned were the Varronian chronology's 753 BC (used by Claudius's Secular Games and Hadrian's Romaea) and the adjacent year of 752 BC (used by the Fasti and the Secular Games of Antoninus Pius and Philip I). Despite known errors in Varro's calculations, it is the 753BC date that continues to form the basis for most modern calculations of the AUC calendar era.
The foundingofRome was a prehistoric event or process later greatly embellished by Roman historians and poets. Archaeological evidence indicates that...
Rome's history spans 28 centuries. While Roman mythology dates the foundingofRome at around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making...
In modern historiography, ancient Rome encompasses the foundingof the Italian city ofRome in the 8th century BC, the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), Roman...
set during the foundingofRome include: Ancient Rome portal List of fiction set in ancient Rome for a comprehensive list of all works of fiction (including...
Urbis). By the end of the late Republic, the Parilia became associated with the birthday ofRome. Numerous accounts of the foundingofRome exist, but the...
the miraculous birth and youth of Romulus and his twin brother, Remus; Remus' murder and the foundingofRome; the Rape of the Sabine Women, and the subsequent...
histories at the foundingof the city ofRome. In Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, much time is spent on the early history ofRome, and on the foundingof the city itself...
referred to as the Roman monarchy or the regal period of ancient Rome, was the earliest period of Roman history when the city and its territory were ruled...
tells of the events that led to the foundingof the city ofRome and the Roman Kingdom by Romulus, following his fratricide of Remus. The image of a she-wolf...
the founding population ofRome. In 390 BC, the city ofRome was attacked by the Gauls, and as a result may have lost many – though not all – of its earlier...
full [...] a little more than three hundred and sixty years from the founding [ofRome]," or shortly after 393 BC. The Greek historian Polybius used a Greek...
she-wolf, an allusion to the founding myth ofRome. AS Roma was founded in the spring of 1927 when Italo Foschi initiated the merger of three older Italian Football...
ˈkɔndɪtaː]; 'from the foundingof the City'), or anno urbis conditae (Latin: [ˈannoː ˈʊrbɪs ˈkɔndɪtae̯]; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated...
cultural centers, transportation hubs and capitals of global empires. Ancient Rome portal Legacy of the Roman Empire Roman Empire Romanization (cultural)...
Remuria, Remora, and Remona) is a place associated with the legendary foundingofRome by Romulus and Remus where, according to Roman tradition, Remus saw...
Pre-historical and early Rome, covering Rome's earliest inhabitants and the legend of its founding by Romulus The period of Etruscan dominance and the...
Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the foundingofRome. The Sabines divided into...
calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was sometimes referred to as year 853 ab urbe condita, i.e., 853 years since the foundingofRome in...
overview of and topical guide to Rome: Rome – capital of Italy and a special comune (named Comune di Roma Capitale). Rome also serves as the capital of the...
of dating was ab urbe condita (Latin for "from the foundingof the city" ofRome) or anno urbis conditae (Latin for "in the year of the foundingof the...
coincides roughly with the traditional date of the foundingofRome in 753 BC and the beginning of the history ofRome. 776 BC: First recorded Ancient Olympic...
subsequent foundingofRome (753 BC), the formation of the Republic (509 BC), and the creation of the Empire (27 BC) up until 229 AD, during the reign of Severus...
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